Overview

Reviews (6)

I have worked on over three hundred projects in the past seven years, including over thirty novels released on my small press, Broken River Books. I have also worked with Eraserhead Press, Swallowdown Press, Ladybox Books, King Shot Press, and Rivages Noir.

Services

Languages

Fiction

Certifications

Bachelor's Degree (University of Oklahoma)

Awards

Wonderland Award for Best Novel 2010

Work experience

Editor

Self-employed

January, 2011
–
Present
(about 8 years)

At my small press, I performed all the duties of a functioning publishing house, including copyediting, line editing, developmental meetings with authors, interior layout design, promotion, and growth.

Portfolio (30 selected works)

*WINNER OF A 2018 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST DEBUT NOVEL**WINNER OF AN ALEX AWARD FROM THE ALA* NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2017 BY St. Louis Post-Dispatch • BooklistA propulsive, gritty novel about a girl marked for death who must fight and steal to stay alive, learning from the most frightening man she knows—her father.Eleven-year-old Polly McClusky is shy, too old for the teddy bear she carries with her... read more

*WINNER OF A 2018 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST DEBUT NOVEL**WINNER OF AN ALEX AWARD FROM THE ALA* NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2017 BY St. Louis Post-Dispatch • BooklistA propulsive, gritty novel about a girl marked for death who must fight and steal to stay alive, learning from the most frightening man she knows—her father.Eleven-year-old Polly McClusky is shy, too old for the teddy bear she carries with her... read more

Ray Boy Calabrese is released from prison 16 years after his actions led to the death of a young man. The victim's brother, Conway D'Innocenzio, is a 29-year-old Brooklynite wasting away at a local Rite Aid, stuck in the past and still howling for Ray Boy's blood. When the chips are down and the gun is drawn, Conway finds that he doesn't have murder in him. Thus begins a spiral of self-loathin... read more

Ray Boy Calabrese is released from prison 16 years after his actions led to the death of a young man. The victim's brother, Conway D'Innocenzio, is a 29-year-old Brooklynite wasting away at a local Rite Aid, stuck in the past and still howling for Ray Boy's blood. When the chips are down and the gun is drawn, Conway finds that he doesn't have murder in him. Thus begins a spiral of self-loathin... read more

A lyrical, apocalyptic debut novel about addiction, friendship, and the struggle for survival at the height of an epidemic.The sickness with a single child and quickly spread: you could get high by drinking your own shadow. Artificial lights were destroyed so addicts could sip shadow at night in the pure moonlight. Gangs of shadow addicts chased down children on playgrounds, rounded up old lad... read more

A lyrical, apocalyptic debut novel about addiction, friendship, and the struggle for survival at the height of an epidemic.The sickness with a single child and quickly spread: you could get high by drinking your own shadow. Artificial lights were destroyed so addicts could sip shadow at night in the pure moonlight. Gangs of shadow addicts chased down children on playgrounds, rounded up old lad... read more

In this mosaic horror/crime novel, ghosts and old gods guide the hands of those caught up in a violent struggle to save the soul of the American southwest. A man tasked with shuttling children over the border believes the Virgin Mary is guiding him towards final justice. A woman offers colonizer blood to the Mother of Chaos. A boy joins corpse destroyers to seek vengeance for the death of his ... read more

In this mosaic horror/crime novel, ghosts and old gods guide the hands of those caught up in a violent struggle to save the soul of the American southwest. A man tasked with shuttling children over the border believes the Virgin Mary is guiding him towards final justice. A woman offers colonizer blood to the Mother of Chaos. A boy joins corpse destroyers to seek vengeance for the death of his ... read more

Assault, armed robbery, and the occasional blackmail: life is pretty damn good for Terry Hickerson. He's got a dog, a best friend, enough cash to get him drunk, and a teenaged son to carry him home. Sure he's a constant pain in the local law's ass, but Sheriff Jimmy Mondale's got enough to worry about, what with his estranged daughter on a tear, and the District Attorney being onto his partner... read more

Assault, armed robbery, and the occasional blackmail: life is pretty damn good for Terry Hickerson. He's got a dog, a best friend, enough cash to get him drunk, and a teenaged son to carry him home. Sure he's a constant pain in the local law's ass, but Sheriff Jimmy Mondale's got enough to worry about, what with his estranged daughter on a tear, and the District Attorney being onto his partner... read more

I have this dream where I’m floating in outer space, sniffing stardust off the rings of Saturn, and Helene—one of Saturn’s sixty-something moons—hangs over my head, its surface cracking in a horizontal line and splitting open like a mouth with sharp rocks for teeth. The noise Helene makes when she inhales is the soundtrack of a head-on collision played backwards. She breathes me in and shuts h... read more

I have this dream where I’m floating in outer space, sniffing stardust off the rings of Saturn, and Helene—one of Saturn’s sixty-something moons—hangs over my head, its surface cracking in a horizontal line and splitting open like a mouth with sharp rocks for teeth. The noise Helene makes when she inhales is the soundtrack of a head-on collision played backwards. She breathes me in and shuts h... read more

ROOTED IN PLACE YOU SEE EVERYTHING AND NOTHING Following news of a mysterious condition threatening to take their parents' lives, two brothers are thrust into one another's reluctant company. Within the disquieting absurdity of Kubler Hospital, time loses meaning and reason dissolves. As their wait continues and unattended patients die around them, the brothers are forced to confront the confu... read more

ROOTED IN PLACE YOU SEE EVERYTHING AND NOTHING Following news of a mysterious condition threatening to take their parents' lives, two brothers are thrust into one another's reluctant company. Within the disquieting absurdity of Kubler Hospital, time loses meaning and reason dissolves. As their wait continues and unattended patients die around them, the brothers are forced to confront the confu... read more

The year is 1904, and Jack Waters has been expelled from his native New Orleans for the murder of a man he caught cheating at cards. Waters escapes to the Caribbean, where he becomes embroiled in a revolution against a brutal dictator...though his reason for fighting has nothing to do with politics. He has his own reason for joining the rebellion, based on revenge against someone high up in th... read more

The year is 1904, and Jack Waters has been expelled from his native New Orleans for the murder of a man he caught cheating at cards. Waters escapes to the Caribbean, where he becomes embroiled in a revolution against a brutal dictator...though his reason for fighting has nothing to do with politics. He has his own reason for joining the rebellion, based on revenge against someone high up in th... read more

Thirty-five-year-old Kurt Morgan lives with his mother across the street from a graveyard. He becomes obsessed with a red-haired woman who visits the graveyard often, watching her through the telescope in his room, wondering whose grave she visits like clockwork. Meanwhile, his mother pressures him to write her memoir. She wants her book finished, and soon. Among these three - Kurt, the gravey... read more

Thirty-five-year-old Kurt Morgan lives with his mother across the street from a graveyard. He becomes obsessed with a red-haired woman who visits the graveyard often, watching her through the telescope in his room, wondering whose grave she visits like clockwork. Meanwhile, his mother pressures him to write her memoir. She wants her book finished, and soon. Among these three - Kurt, the gravey... read more

In these four novellas, Nate Southard blurs the line between crime fiction and cosmic horror to create a unique and frightening style that is all his own. "He Stepped Through" – On an overcast day in Compton, a swath of violence hints at a greater, more ancient evil. Two crooked detectives, a young gangbanger, and a beat cop learn sometimes stepping through a door means it can’t be closed agai... read more

In these four novellas, Nate Southard blurs the line between crime fiction and cosmic horror to create a unique and frightening style that is all his own. "He Stepped Through" – On an overcast day in Compton, a swath of violence hints at a greater, more ancient evil. Two crooked detectives, a young gangbanger, and a beat cop learn sometimes stepping through a door means it can’t be closed agai... read more

Rebecca thought she’d find a hippie paradise when she moved to the desolate back hills of Humboldt County. A place to commune with nature and teach her five-year-old daughter how to live off the land. Instead she discovered a nightmare. Coyote is a washed-up pot grower. Strung out on pills and dealing with dropping prices and looming legalization, he wonders if it’s even worth it anymore. Dies... read more

Rebecca thought she’d find a hippie paradise when she moved to the desolate back hills of Humboldt County. A place to commune with nature and teach her five-year-old daughter how to live off the land. Instead she discovered a nightmare. Coyote is a washed-up pot grower. Strung out on pills and dealing with dropping prices and looming legalization, he wonders if it’s even worth it anymore. Dies... read more

Brisbane, 1984: Jim Harris is a hard-drinking Australian detective on his way to a nervous breakdown. Every day, he works alongside corrupt policeman and dangerous crooks. That is, until a brutal murder case starts to unravel his career, bringing past indiscretions to light. Alone, afraid and out-of-control, Harris makes a pact with himself: four days to locate the killer, four days to take re... read more

Brisbane, 1984: Jim Harris is a hard-drinking Australian detective on his way to a nervous breakdown. Every day, he works alongside corrupt policeman and dangerous crooks. That is, until a brutal murder case starts to unravel his career, bringing past indiscretions to light. Alone, afraid and out-of-control, Harris makes a pact with himself: four days to locate the killer, four days to take re... read more

After discovering a body in a local fishing hole, two brothers come to terms with their own poverty as they're inescapably drawn into a surreal world of dangerous criminals.Set against a rural Oklahoma backdrop, Blood and Water is a story of family responsibility, the lure of easy outs and even easier scores, and our own violent impulses."Working class fiction at its best . . . desperation, bu... read more

After discovering a body in a local fishing hole, two brothers come to terms with their own poverty as they're inescapably drawn into a surreal world of dangerous criminals.Set against a rural Oklahoma backdrop, Blood and Water is a story of family responsibility, the lure of easy outs and even easier scores, and our own violent impulses."Working class fiction at its best . . . desperation, bu... read more

Let he who is without sin… COME GET SOME. All his life, Reverend Clyde Hilburn has fought to protect his downtrodden flock in the tiny town of Palestine, West Virginia from the evils of the modern world. To that end, he has held a monopoly on not only their souls, but also their thriving drug addiction. But times have changed, and forces larger than him have moved in to take control of both th... read more

Let he who is without sin… COME GET SOME. All his life, Reverend Clyde Hilburn has fought to protect his downtrodden flock in the tiny town of Palestine, West Virginia from the evils of the modern world. To that end, he has held a monopoly on not only their souls, but also their thriving drug addiction. But times have changed, and forces larger than him have moved in to take control of both th... read more

In her debut novella, Rios de la Luz examines the lives of a small family of water witches living near the US-Mexico border. Exploring issues of race and trauma along with beauty and magic, Itzá is a powerful reclamation of body and identity.

In her debut novella, Rios de la Luz examines the lives of a small family of water witches living near the US-Mexico border. Exploring issues of race and trauma along with beauty and magic, Itzá is a powerful reclamation of body and identity.

Deep below the island, something monstrous lies waiting for Thettie, and it knows her name. "Family and small town desires and secrets simmer in J. S. Breukelaar's melancholy and affecting mix of literary, noir, and horror by the lake. ALETHEIA is a compelling 21st century ghost story. Don't lose your Gila monster!"--Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Disappearance at Devil's R... read more

Deep below the island, something monstrous lies waiting for Thettie, and it knows her name. "Family and small town desires and secrets simmer in J. S. Breukelaar's melancholy and affecting mix of literary, noir, and horror by the lake. ALETHEIA is a compelling 21st century ghost story. Don't lose your Gila monster!"--Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Disappearance at Devil's R... read more

A BOOK MADE TO HAUNT ME"Michael J Seidlinger's collection of epistolary poems, Standard Loneliness Package, is a beast! Or rather, a bestiary. Each poem's composed to someone lost to the poet, and as this book accrues, we discover all that the direct address in a poem can do. This collection reconciles with a past that is not past, still alive inside the writer and shows how poetry can be a me... read more

A BOOK MADE TO HAUNT ME"Michael J Seidlinger's collection of epistolary poems, Standard Loneliness Package, is a beast! Or rather, a bestiary. Each poem's composed to someone lost to the poet, and as this book accrues, we discover all that the direct address in a poem can do. This collection reconciles with a past that is not past, still alive inside the writer and shows how poetry can be a me... read more

When he's not holding down a dead-end job or lurking in his mother's basement, Tony Anastos spends his time shooting ultra-low-budget horror flicks. After meeting his sexy fame-hungry coworker Anna, he sees an opportunity to launch his career into cult stardom. But when Tony's plan to jolt their next film's Kickstarter into overdrive calls for real blood, he will sacrifice the last bit of his ... read more

When he's not holding down a dead-end job or lurking in his mother's basement, Tony Anastos spends his time shooting ultra-low-budget horror flicks. After meeting his sexy fame-hungry coworker Anna, he sees an opportunity to launch his career into cult stardom. But when Tony's plan to jolt their next film's Kickstarter into overdrive calls for real blood, he will sacrifice the last bit of his ... read more

Horror movie starlet Clarissa Lee is beautiful, internationally known, and...completely broke. To cap off years of questionable financial and personal decisions, Clarissa accepts an invitation to participate in a “fully immersive” fan convention. She arrives at an off-season summer camp and finds what was supposed to be a quick buck has become a real-life slasher movie. Deep in the woods of Ke... read more

Horror movie starlet Clarissa Lee is beautiful, internationally known, and...completely broke. To cap off years of questionable financial and personal decisions, Clarissa accepts an invitation to participate in a “fully immersive” fan convention. She arrives at an off-season summer camp and finds what was supposed to be a quick buck has become a real-life slasher movie. Deep in the woods of Ke... read more

In this hysterical fever dream of a novel, meet an unhinged paramedic turned porn director uprooted from an ever-shifting '80s fantasy. Discover a crime that circles back through time to a far-reaching cover-up in the back of an ambulance. Reveal a manic tattoo obsession and how it conspires to ruin the integrity of a film and corrupt identity itself. Unravel the mystery surrounding three gene... read more

In this hysterical fever dream of a novel, meet an unhinged paramedic turned porn director uprooted from an ever-shifting '80s fantasy. Discover a crime that circles back through time to a far-reaching cover-up in the back of an ambulance. Reveal a manic tattoo obsession and how it conspires to ruin the integrity of a film and corrupt identity itself. Unravel the mystery surrounding three gene... read more

June 5th, 2011. The streets of Athens are draped in a thick fog of tension. Hundreds of thousands of activists line the streets to protest the bankrupt government's austerity measures. Riot police patrol the crowd and set up barricades across key intersections. A toothless vagrant scrambles to stay ahead of his past, a young couple struggles to piece their relationship back together, and a kil... read more

June 5th, 2011. The streets of Athens are draped in a thick fog of tension. Hundreds of thousands of activists line the streets to protest the bankrupt government's austerity measures. Riot police patrol the crowd and set up barricades across key intersections. A toothless vagrant scrambles to stay ahead of his past, a young couple struggles to piece their relationship back together, and a kil... read more

A hypnotic descent from childhood to adulthood. A boy sees angels, finds love, loses it, and becomes heartbreakingly aware of the world around him. Using a dreamy prose that calls to mind the films of Harmony Korine, Weaver crafts a deft and disturbing portrait of the young life of a David Koresh-like cult figure. “Troy James Weaver’s novel unravels the typical coming-of-age story. It erases t... read more

A hypnotic descent from childhood to adulthood. A boy sees angels, finds love, loses it, and becomes heartbreakingly aware of the world around him. Using a dreamy prose that calls to mind the films of Harmony Korine, Weaver crafts a deft and disturbing portrait of the young life of a David Koresh-like cult figure. “Troy James Weaver’s novel unravels the typical coming-of-age story. It erases t... read more

“Jake Hinkson is the Roger Ebert of film noir. His stylish prose bristles with memorable insights and the kind of fun only a true movie lover can bring to the table.” —Ed Gorman, co-founder of Mystery Scene and winner of the Anthony Award for Best Critical Work for The Fine Art of Murder “Newcomers to noir and connoisseurs alike can both revel in Jake Hinkson’s riffs on the subject. He brings ... read more

“Jake Hinkson is the Roger Ebert of film noir. His stylish prose bristles with memorable insights and the kind of fun only a true movie lover can bring to the table.” —Ed Gorman, co-founder of Mystery Scene and winner of the Anthony Award for Best Critical Work for The Fine Art of Murder “Newcomers to noir and connoisseurs alike can both revel in Jake Hinkson’s riffs on the subject. He brings ... read more

Arthur lives a quiet life in London, wandering from the bar to the racetrack and back again. When his pension check dries up, Arthur decides to win it all back with one last big bet at the bookie. When that falls through, Arthur borrows money and repeats the process, until he's in too deep with a vicious gang of leg-breakers. The plan to save his skin will take him far from his home, to a plac... read more

Arthur lives a quiet life in London, wandering from the bar to the racetrack and back again. When his pension check dries up, Arthur decides to win it all back with one last big bet at the bookie. When that falls through, Arthur borrows money and repeats the process, until he's in too deep with a vicious gang of leg-breakers. The plan to save his skin will take him far from his home, to a plac... read more

Book Riot Contemporary Horror Top 50 * Barnes & Noble Best of Horror 2017 * MCL Best of 2017 * Undead Airlock Best of 2017 * Dead End Follies Top 10Named one of the most anticipated books of 2017 by LitReactor and Big Other and one of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Books Everyone Will Be Talking About by Kirkus/Black Gate.Includes "When Susurrus Stirs," the basis for the award-winning motion pi... read more

Book Riot Contemporary Horror Top 50 * Barnes & Noble Best of Horror 2017 * MCL Best of 2017 * Undead Airlock Best of 2017 * Dead End Follies Top 10Named one of the most anticipated books of 2017 by LitReactor and Big Other and one of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Books Everyone Will Be Talking About by Kirkus/Black Gate.Includes "When Susurrus Stirs," the basis for the award-winning motion pi... read more

From the author of Engines of Ruin, comes a dark suspenseful novel for fans of Black Mirror, Edward Lee and cosmic horror.The internet is a scary place. Beneath Facebook and Twitter is another world. One in which anything can be obtained—for a price. A community of black markets, depraved pornography, and death. This is the dark web.Leon was just curious, he heard the stories of the secrets an... read more

From the author of Engines of Ruin, comes a dark suspenseful novel for fans of Black Mirror, Edward Lee and cosmic horror.The internet is a scary place. Beneath Facebook and Twitter is another world. One in which anything can be obtained—for a price. A community of black markets, depraved pornography, and death. This is the dark web.Leon was just curious, he heard the stories of the secrets an... read more

Eight stories about broken men making bad decisions. "William Boyle does for the small damaged towns of New York what Nelson Algren did for Chicago: he makes the streets sing with piss-pot poetry and gut-bucket blues. These are edgy stories about people who would have to pull themselves up to walk the line, people who spend so much time in bars, drunks and bartenders start to look like family.... read more

Eight stories about broken men making bad decisions. "William Boyle does for the small damaged towns of New York what Nelson Algren did for Chicago: he makes the streets sing with piss-pot poetry and gut-bucket blues. These are edgy stories about people who would have to pull themselves up to walk the line, people who spend so much time in bars, drunks and bartenders start to look like family.... read more

James has 6 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Communication

Working with James was enjoyable from start to finish. He provided more than I expected, and did a fantastic job of tailoring his suggestions and feedback to my tastes and sensibilities. I hope I have an excuse to work with him again in the future.